Infineon Technologies Introduces New PIN Diodes for Antenna Switch Designs in Wireless Applications

Munich, October 2, 2001 – Infineon Technologies, a leading supplier of wireless communication integrated circuits, today introduced with BAR88-02L and BAR89-02L a new, high performance PIN Diode family. This family sets new standards in antenna switch designs for 2.5G and 3G terminals as well as for Bluetooth and Wireless LAN applications. Both diodes offer low current consumption which is essential for all mobile applications allowing optimized standby and talking times of cellular terminals. Designed for low loss antenna switch designs the new product family meets today’s and future market requirements and paves the way for upcoming frontend designs.

“Over the past years antenna switches were designed for working at 10 mA. Today market requirements have changed and Infineon will provide its customers with PIN diodes working at 3 mA and lower,” said Thomas Pollakowski, Vice President and General Manager Discretes from Infineon Technologies. “Both BAR88-02L and BAR89-02L show an excellent performance regarding harmonic suppression, insertion loss and isolation. They are ideal for wireless applications where low current consumption is a crucial factor.”

BAR89-02L is optimized for low forward resistance providing low insertion loss in frontend modules while BAR88-02L is recommended for ultra low current applications. Both Diodes will be shipped in Infineon’s new TSLP-2 Package offering significantly reduced parasitics. This is especially important for all devices working in the radio frequency band up to 2.5GHz where all major mobile communication and wireless internet standards such as 2.5G and 3G are located. With an overall dimension of only 1.0 mm x 0.6 mm x 0.4 mm the TSLP-2 package meets the reduced space requirements for all mobile as well as for module applications which is becoming more and more important for 2.5G and 3G applications.

Availability

Samples of BAR89-02L are available, samples of BAR88-02L will be available in November 2001. High volume production of BAR89-02L will start in December 2001. High volume production of BAR88-02L will start in January 2002.

Background information on PIN diodes

PIN diodes are useful for switching and attenuating RF (radio frequency) signals. Basically, between the P- and N-doped regions of the diode is an undoped region referred to as "intrinsic" (hence the I in "PIN"). When a forward DC bias is applied the diode, a large number of holes and electrons are created in the I region, allowing forward conduction. If the bias is suddenly removed, these charge carriers will take some time to recombine and thus stop the conduction of current.

PIN diodes are high volume products. For instance today a normal GSM handset comprises four to six PIN diodes, two for each frequency band the handset operates in.

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for applications in the wired and wireless communications markets, for security systems and smartcards, for the automotive and industrial sectors, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In the fiscal year 2000 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.28 billion with about 29,000 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.